By Richard A ViguerieWe all know President Trump isn’t a movement conservative, he’s a patriotic businessman with some conservative instincts – and that’s left a hole in the marketplace. I see Mike Pence doing the same things Ronald Reagan did to fill that hole.

I said in my book TAKEOVER that the greatest impediment to governing America according to conservative principles is not the Democrats, but the Republican establishment. Last night that impediment was swept away by a new conservative – populist majority that elected Donald Trump.

Senator Santorum’s announcement speech had some solid points, especially his point that “Working families don’t need another president tied to big government or big money.” But he's been off the radar screen for three years and others, like Ted Cruz, are now the recognized leaders on the issues Rick Santorum had largely to himself in 2012. Much as I hate to say it, despite his many admirable qualities, I think Rick Santorum’s moment has passed.

CHQ Chairman Richard A. Viguerie will appear TONIGHT on MSNBC staple "The Ed Show" hosted by progressive commentator Ed Schultz. Viguerie is scheduled for the 5:00 p.m. hour along with Democratic strategist Bob Shrum and Professor of Politics at Occidental College Caroline Heldman to discuss the presidential prospects of Marco Rubio versus Hillary Clinton and the impact of Rubio's comment that he is more experienced than President Obama was when he took office.

You’re going to see a record number of Republican House members that are going to be challenged in the primaries in 2016 and that is where the battle for the future of the country lies, not in forming a third party that will guarantee a Democratic Party victory and the extinction of any possibility of reversing Obama’s unconstitutional actions. I urge you to join me in this important battle for the soul of the Republican Party and the future of this great country.

As the National Taxpayers Union's research has shown, simply complying with the tax code cost Americans more than $220 billion last year. That's about as much as we spent on the Departments of Education, Veterans Affairs, State, and Homeland Security combined. The time has come to demolish this shaky foundation and build a new code from the ground up.

As CHQ Chairman Richard Viguerie told The Washington Post, “It seems like ‘Groundhog Day.’ ” And we’re trying to figure out which alternate universe establishment Republicans are living in now that The Post, which claims to be the “nation’s newspaper of record,” has dubbed Mitt Romney a GOP elder statesman.

In my new book TAKEOVER I cite The Wall Street Journal as one of the few remaining conservative daily newspapers in America and give the WSJ a lot of credit for the defeat of Hillarycare, but sometimes they get it wrong and they got both the history and the politics wrong in Gerald F. Seib's April 14 article “Senate Republicans Seek Truce With Tea Party.”

In my new book TAKEOVER I make the case that conservatives been fighting the Democrats, when the greatest impediments to the conservative governance of America are not Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid; they are John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, Eric Cantor, Kevin McCarthy and Reince Priebus. Now it looks like 40 to 50 members of the House Republican Conference agree with me.